This web-based system allows users to select
from a pre-defined list of patterns and colors and then apply those selections
to their car. You can change your paint
scheme as many times and whenever you want.
Just remember to save it by simply pushing the save button.

2) Custom Paint Scheme Created Outside
iRacing and by a Third Party

If you want to use a custom paint scheme created by someone else (for those of
us out there without any artistic talent) outside of iRacing you can also do
that. If you are looking for custom
paint schemes or for people with that skill set
there is a nice third party site called Trading Paints which was actually designed
to work with iRacing. It is located
at: http://www.tradingpaints.com

From Trading Paints you can upload
your own custom scheme, or download other drivers’ cars
on the iRacing service so that you can see their custom schemes while racing.
There are instructions on Trading Paints to help
with this process.

Another resource for custom
Paint Schemes is the iRacing forums. You can request a custom scheme to be created for you
by fellow iRacers who are also artists.
You can do this from our painting sub forum in the iRacing forums:

Please note that some artists
charge for their time creating schemes, while others do it for the love of the
art!

3)
Custom Paint Scheme Created Outside iRacing by You
If you wish to create a paint scheme yourself without using our prebuilt web-based
patterns on iRacing, then you can create a custom paint scheme on your own. The custom paint system is OPTIONAL, you do
not need to create a custom car paint scheme to participate or enjoy iRacing in
any way. To create a custom paint scheme you will need an art program that is
compatible with Adobe Photoshop layered PSD files. The template files themselves which are used
to create a custom paint scheme can be downloaded from their respective car paint
kit pages at the link supplied above.

The way the custom paint
system works is that when you run a car in a race or test session, the
simulator will create a folder in your documents\folder. So after you run the Chevrolet SS – Gen 6
car for the first time the following folder will show up:

\Documents\iRacing\paint\stockcars
chevyss

To view a custom paint scheme you created in the iRacing simulator, you should
place a 24 bit tga with RLE compression enabled in the folder matching the car
you designed it for. You should name
the tga file in the following format.

The cars can be 1024 x 1024
or 2048 x 2048 pixels in size. The suits and helmets are
512 x 512. If they are the wrong size they are ignored.

If the sim can't find a custom texture, it will use the defined colors and
pattern from the website.

A custom texture will be loaded and used even when loading older replays that
were made before the custom texture was added or changed.

Custom textures are not automatically uploaded, downloaded, transferred,
mailed, delivered, etc, in any way. iRacing.com isn't responsible for the
content of a texture created by our customers.

The only way for other racers to see your custom paint scheme is for them to
have your tga in their documents\folder. If other racers don't have your tga,
then they will see the car you currently have painted in the websites pattern
system. Please make sure to continue to create a paint scheme in the built in
pattern system so that people who don't want or desire custom paint schemes
won't see white unpainted cars.

Each file has 2 layers dedicated to showing where we stamp car numbers and car
sponsors. These blocks are for informational purposes only to give the artist
some idea of where those items are placed by our stamping system. Please note
that the sponsors included in our sponsor system won't be included on a custom
texture. This includes club logos.

The Dallara has several 1 pixel blocks on the upper left of the texture. These
blocks are used to determine the color of the mirrors, underside of the wings,
etc. These areas are numbered on the template and I have a note embedded into
the psd file noting where the colors are assigned on the model.

In the paintable area folder there is sometimes a layer for logos that can have
their color changed (manufacturer sponsors, etc.). Any logos not in the
"Paintable Area" folder and in the "Turn off before Exporting
TGA" can't be changed or removed; they are stamped on by the simulator and
therefore they should be turned off before saving the final tga to keep from
having the items stamped on the texture twice.

Some cars have contingency
logos and other details that can be removed from the car using a special decal
texture. This texture is a 32bit tga
that tells the sim what to allow to appear on
the car from the "Turn off before Exporting TGA” section of the PSD file. To use a decal texture on your car to remove
or add items that normally can’t be edited, add a 32 bit tga file with an alpha
channel the car folder you wish to edit. So with the previously mentioned
Chevrolet Chevy SS, you would add a decal file to the \Documents\iRacing\paint\stockcars
chevyss folder. The file would be named:

decal_34565.tga

The alpha channel is used by
the simulator to determine what should and shouldn’t show up from the decal
tga. White allows an item to show up,
black will hide an item. Please note
that some items on a car cannot be removed, even if a decal tga is used due to
licensing or other issues. As with
other custom schemes, other users won’t be able to see a decal tga or custom
car scheme unless they also have your files on their local machine.